First Look: Intel Classmate PC

First Look: Intel Classmate PC

1:50 /
May 21, 2008

The Intel Classmate PC is an intriguing attempt at a low-cost laptop that's aimed at students in developing countries.

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>> I'm Dan Akerman senior editor at CNET.com and this little guy right here is the Intel Classmate PC. Much like that one laptop per child project you've heard a lot about, this is designed for use by kids in developing countries where they need low cost laptops that can stand up to the rigors of less than ideal school situations. You've got a basic seven inch screen buffeted by these big plastic bumpers all around so it's actually chunkier than you'd expect a seven inch laptop to be. But, it does keep it safe and it's fairly drop proof. And we've had pretty good luck tossing it around and it still works. The keyboard is very tiny, even smaller than you'd find on an ultra portable laptop. But, the small keys are probably just right for children's fingers. The touch pad is round which we think is really nice design touch, we'd like to see this on more mainstream laptops. But, we found that it doesn't have a little scroll bar on the side that you use when you're going up and down in web pages and office documents. Now, you might be surprised to find that Windows XP on here along with Microsoft Office, these are specially stripped down versions designed to fit on the very tiny two gig flash hard drive that comes with this system. And, of course, it's got WiFi and a couple of USB ports a lot of the same stuff you'd expect to find on an ultra portable laptop. Not only is the class made functional it's actually kinda stylish. It comes with a removable leather cover. Ours is kind of a pinkish orangy hue. You can get other colors. You snap it off and you can change them. But it also hides this right here. It's an SD card slot. Why is that important? You can put your own four gig SD card in there and augment the rather meager two gig flash hard drive that comes built in. I'm Dan Akerman and that is the Intel Classmate PC.
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